Brews ‘n’ BBQ: UNC

One weekly feature Tomahawk Nation readers are familiar with is our Question and Answers series from Jon Marchant. Jon gets some great insight from our partner SB Nation websites for each week. This week, North Carolina is on the table.

But I wanted more - a few years back, myself and another TN writer were doing Craft Beer reviews of the local breweries in FSU’s opponents’ hometowns. Since Jon was already talking to folks about their teams, I figured we’d toss in a couple questions about what everyone cares most about:

Beer and BBQ.

North Carolina, come on and raise up. Take your shirt off, twist it ‘round your hand, spin it like a helicopter. And eat some pork. We are fortunate to have Tar Heel Blog as part of the SBN network covering UNC.

Jon got some insight from Brandon Anderson of Tar Heel Blog:

My personal favorite brewery is Lonerider, which is in Raleigh. They have this really good hefeweizen called Shotgun Betty that I keep stocked in my fridge. I’ll throw a brewery out there that’s located in Chapel Hill in there as well: Top of the Hill. If you’ve seen any pictures of fans flooding Franklin Street, you’ve likely seen the restaurant/brewery before. They are also a distillery, so they make gin, vodka, and all of that as well.

Lonerider sounds like it should be in Texas, not Raleigh. Maybe it will be after the next conference realignment.

I’ve never been to Chapel Hill, but it sounds like it’s a great location for a brewery. As someone famous once said: Breweries are Bars for people who don’t know how to fight.

The Pit in Raleigh is hands-down my favorite BBQ place. It feels dirty giving so many Raleigh answers, but they easily have my favorite chopped BBQ and fried chicken. I regularly get their Carolina Classic Combo that comes with chopped BBQ, fried chicken, and then I get a side of green beans and mac n cheese. Whenever I have family or friends in town, I make it a point to take them there so they can experience it for themselves.

More Raleigh tips. I thought we weren’t playing NC State for a few weeks?

I’ve said before, I’m a brisket guy. That may be my biggest issue with Carolina BBQ. While I love nearabouts every part of a pig, brisket just makes my world go ‘round. It revs my engine.

I think I’m getting some bbq pork for lunch.

Thanks again to Brandon and THB for the insight.

Hopefully, this is a helpful guide for those who happen to venture up to Raleigh (and maybe even Chapel Hill) looking for good Q and brew. FSU football may be taking a week off after UNC, but we will be getting the Tomahawk Nation staff to guide you through Tallahassee Brews ‘n’ BBQ on the bye week.

This ones for who? Us, us, us.